Morgan is 9 Months Old!

It is so hard to believe that my baby is nine months old! She resembles Addyson so much at this age, it is like looking at my little Addy all over again....although Addyson was already cruising and crawling at this age, and I think I spoil Morgan too much because she wants no part of that! She went for her 9 month check-up yesterday and only weighs 16 pounds, 7 ounces and is 27 3/4 inches tall. She is a peanut just like Addyson and the crazy thing is, she is only 6 ounces bigger than Addyson was at the same exact age. She is exactly the same height as Addyson was though...so they are pretty similar in a lot of ways! Getting out all of Addyson's old 9-12 month winter clothes for Morgan is so strange because I can remember all the times Addy wore these clothes....such a trip down memory lane! I am sure any mom who has been through this is probably nodding her head.



Morgan is doing well with all her milestones as she is eating on her own and using the pincer grasp to do it. She is standing with help and can fall back on her bottom...not that she always chooses to do it that way, but she can when she wants to! (We have experienced many sideways falls from her, but I think she does it to get attention..haha!) Even though it is not considered a milestone, she has gotten into the crawling stance but she doesn't move anywhere, she just hangs out in that position. She says Mama and dada and even claps and waves...so according to the doctor, even though she is only in the 15th percentile for her weight, she is doing great.



This past week, I went to the orientation for Addyson's preschool and it pretty much reinforced my wonderful thoughts about ONS. The teachers acted so excited about the school year and they were so great about trying to meet everyone. The activities that they have planned for the school year seem fun and interesting, and I know Addyson is going to love it! I can't wait for her to get to go on Wednesday and I am sure that first day will be so much fun for her. She talks about it all the time and when she got a postcard from her teacher today in the mail, she carried it around with her all afternoon. This is going to be an exciting year for my three year old!


We have a fun weekend in store for the girls...their Aunt Diana and cousins Kaylee and Ashlyn are staying over Friday until Sunday and Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Kenny are coming up here Saturday. Since it is the 105th anniversary for Harley, we may try to see the antique Harley parade on Saturday that comes through our city. The dealership has a lot going on all weekend so we are hoping to check that out too. Then on Sunday, Grandma Rosie and Aunt Amy are coming to stay along with cousins Lauren and Caroline. Addyson said she couldn't wait to show her cousins all her toys. She is going to be so overwhelmed with all her family visiting that she will probably be lonely on Tuesday, but at least school starts the next day so she will get over it quickly!

So I still "creep" (Facebook term for looking without responding - kind of like spying, I guess!) around the internet and I happened to come across a couple more good blogs in the past few weeks....one of them is Mamarazzi - I saw it on Jen Lancaster's (the writer) blog and there was one entry that was quite disturbing....it is about J. LO and I will let you read it for yourself: http://www.mamarazzi.org/2008/08/jennifer_lopez_1.html
(Sometimes these celebrities really need to realize there are others in this world who do a lot more amazing things than them!) Anyway, the blog is basically about celebrity moms or at least it seems to relate to the celebrities in some way. Anyone who knows me, probably knows how much I love that!

As for another blog that I have added to my favorites list is It's Lovely, I'll Take it! This one cracks me up as it consists of photos from real estate listings that really probably should not be a part of the listing. It amazes me what people try to sell as a home and how much they are usually asking for the home! I remember when we were selling our house in IL and all the staging I read about and how we tried to clear all the clutter and extra furniture and stuff. Most of these listings really need some of that help! It is good for a few laughs every day that is for sure.


Well, I hope all of you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend and hopefully the weather holds up as it is supposed to up here. I really hope this latest hurricane threat falls apart because after this past June, I cannot stand seeing anyone going through the flooding that Wisconsin experienced and we all know that New Orleans doesn't deserve to go through the nightmare they experienced three years ago!

Almost time for Preschool!

OMG! I cannot believe that we only have one week left before Addyson starts preschool! This summer seems to have flown by. I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have two children to take care of now, so it has been a lot more work, and the first month of summer was a washout literally! We didn't do as much as I would have liked but next summer will have to be a makeup year with us doing everything we possibly can since Morgan will be easier to take along. Hopefully, she will be over the 2 naps....that is what has limited us this year. (Not that I mind! It has helped get me back in shape much quicker since the easiest thing for us to do is go to the YMCA every day.)

This past week has been fun for Addyson. Tim and I went to Cushing Park on Sunday with our girls and met up with Aunt Diana and her two girls. Addyson and Kaylee played on the swings and the slides and had fun on the bridges that move with you when you jump on them. It was pretty warm that afternoon so we didn't stay for too long but it was enough to get some of the energy out of Addyson that she seems to have every minute of every day! She is constantly jumping all over the place and a lot of people have commented on it recently....it is funny but very exhausting just watching her! Even at Starbucks the other day, another customer was watching her chatter nonstop and jump up and down while waiting with me for my drink and he made a joke...."get this girl an expresso shot, she needs to wake up!" Everyone in the place starting chuckling! Aghhh! The joys of having crazy children, right? HAHA! It is better than the other option, I will have to say!

Wednesday, we made the trip back to Algonquin/Huntley to Laura's to see all of our old playgroup friends. Before the playgroup, I took Addyson by our old house and she asked me, "Mommy, why did we move?" I told her, "because if we didn't, it would be a long drive for Daddy every day." We drove around a little bit and although I do miss my old friends dearly and I miss all the fun stuff we did in that area....and the shopping, restaurants, easy walk to the park, etc. (the list goes on), the congestion I dealt with on a Wednesday afternoon (at 2:30 when everyone should be at work) is not missed! It took me forever just to get to Starbucks which is not even 5 miles from Laura's house! We had a wonderful time and Addyson got to play with her old friends...Jack, Victoria, Brady and made some new friends...Olivia, Katie, & William. I got to see the babies Ella and Will and since they are growing up so fast, it seems like ages ago that I saw them! Ella, technically, is not a baby anymore, but since I had not seen her in a year, she is still a baby to me. We hope to make it down there more often since both of my kids seem to travel well and I really miss all my old friends!

DEJA VU

It started with a bump in the night!

Last weekend started off with Addyson in the ER at 3:30 AM after falling out of bed and hitting her right eye on the nightstand. She woke up screaming for me and I assumed it was because she wet the bed, so I am half asleep feeling around to see if she actually peed or not....she kept telling me that she fell out of bed (which she had done a few times already) but it honestly took me awhile to realize that she was bleeding around her eye. Since we have dealt with this before, I knew that it was bad enough that she needed stitches, so off to the ER for Addyson and myself. At least, the ER here in our city isn't very busy, so we were only there for about an hour and we were back home asleep around 4:30. I could not believe how brave she was, she could see him stitching up her eye since it was cut right above her eyebrow, but she didn't make a peep while he was putting the 2 stitches in. She truly amazes me sometimes with her adult like attitude in situations like these. I don't know if I could have had someone coming at my eye with a needle and thread and not flinch a few times! Today she gets the stitches taken out, so she is excited that she will get to take baths again. She is not a huge fan of the shower. :O) Plus, I think she is sick of listening to me tell her to calm down because I don't want her to break open the cut above her eye! I swear she has been more rambunctious since the accident!

The next morning Tim stayed home to work while I took the girls shopping....and as any mom of two knows, it is almost impossible to go to the stores you want without some kind of fussing and complaining coming from the kids! Addyson wanted nothing to do with it so that was a complete waste of time. But Sunday we went to Aunt Amy and Uncle Dan's so Addyson was happy about that, and I was just happy to get away from home. The girls got to see their cousins and Morgan got to meet Tim's Aunt Diane and Uncle Don for the first time.

Tuesday was Kids Fest and Addyson had a ball. The moment we got there, she wanted a balloon animal. Luckily she isn't afraid of clowns because that is what all the people making them were dressed as.....we waited in line for about 40 minutes but she got to meet "Tickles" and she got the flower balloon she wanted so it was worth the wait. Luckily, it didn't pop until the next day because I was not about to stand in that line again! Kids Fest had a lot of community participants advertising their businesses but each booth had to have something that related to children or some type of game for the kids. It is a lot of fun for kids that are Addyson's age and up. Unfortunately, Addyson didn't get to jump in the bounce houses or play with the table of bubbles because of her stitches but the balloon kept her happy so I was thankful of that! I don't have too much planned for the rest of the week but maybe we can find something exciting to do this weekend. I hope so because it is supposed to be gorgeous outside again and we really need to take advantage of such great weather!

The Last Week in July

Maggie's Aunt Beth helping the kids make tiaras and visors.
The juggler at the Taste of Lake Country
Can you find Maggie and Addyson sitting in the crowd?
Morgan
Layla
Maggie and Addyson playing in Maggie's new pool.

What a good week for the girls. Last weekend we took the girls to get their pictures taken since I meant to get it done when Morgan turned 6 months and she was already turning 8 months! Oops! Anyway they did great with the pictures and I have posted some of them on the blog. That evening we went to the Taste of Lake Country on the Pewaukee lakefront with the Antholines and Addyson was so happily surprised to see her buddy, Maggie, there! They got to watch a juggler who juggled balls, machetes, and flaming torches! They also got tattoos and stickers. We ate some really great food and Addyson had a ball playing on the beach. You can't go into the water yet at the beach since they are still trying to fight the toxic blue-green algae that came along with the flood! Sunday, Addyson was invited to Triston's (our neighbor) birthday swim party and had the best time swimming with the big kids. (Triston had just turned 9 so Addyson was the youngest at the party. She loves our neighbor boys!) Then throughout the week, we went to a picninc and she played with Lucie and Maggie. We also went to an impromptu playdate at Maggie's and Addyson got to play in the water, decorate and then eat "Pinkalicious" cupcakes, and then decorate a tiara which she has been wearing ever since. (Thanks to Maggie's Aunt Beth who planned all of that! It was a really fun playdate!) Saturday, she signed up for gymnastics again and also got to see Maggie for a fourth time in a week! Her and Maggie ran around the gym and tried everything (well, Maggie did....Addyson acted scared of a few things like the big slide. Hopefully she will get over that soon!) She isn't going to know what to do if we don't see Maggie this week. haha! Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Pat also came up on Saturday to help her daddy do yardwork....15 yards of mulch! Yuck! But after all the hard work was done, Addyson and Morgan put on dresses (and Addyson wore her new tiara) and we went to Golden Mast for dinner. It was a great meal and the girls were very good. It was a busy week for us and hopefully next week will be a little more mellow. The sad part of it is that July is now over and we only have one more month of summer before the kids go back to school and all the Fall routines start up again. I feel like I blinked and the summer vanished. We need to make the most of the next 4 weeks to get in everything we haven't done yet....like go to the beach! Can you believe that we live by a ton of lakes and haven't even hit the beach once!?! This week, Grandma Debbie is coming for a visit so Addyson should be really excited about that!